Biscotti

annie1992November 28, 2012

This post will do double duty for me, I just got a new computer, my 2nd old one died, with a bad hard drive. I never back up because I don't keep anything on my computer that I care about, since the one before that crashed. I think I've mentioned that I hate computers nearly as much as I hate cell phones? I answer email, I post here and I do some on-line bill paying. That's all. I don't blog or twitter or tweet or do Facebook.

Anyway, the new one has Windows 8, my last one had Vista, before that it was Windows 2000, so it's learn all over every time. I think I figured out how to get pictures off the camera, onto the computer and into Photobucket. I think....

So, because I was frustrated I decided to do something else that frustrates me, bake biscotti. I haven't liked any homemade biscotti I've made because it's just too hard. It isn't light and crunchy like the stuff I get at the coffee shop, it's either dense and chewy or it's hard as a brick.

Anyway, King Arthur Flour has a recipe for "American style" biscotti. I just had to:

Lot and beholod, I finally found the recipe that I'll keep! It's light, crunchy, not too sweet. The instructions say it can be adapted and things can be added like nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips. They can be dunked in chocolate or sprinkled with sugar. Mine got sugar, red and green because I'm out of plain white coarse sugar but I bought colored sugar for Christmas cookies, LOL.

Anyway, my biscotti recipe quest is over. My computer is almost manageable. My frustrations today seem to have been conquered, at least until the next time I try to log onto the new computer, LOL.

Beautiful pictures....but I much prefer the more traditional biscotti without any shortening of any kind....no butter no oil.
Biscotti IS hard as a brick....well not really but it's decidedly crunchy and best dipped in tea coffee or a nice dessert wine.
While I am sure they are delicious, they are not "biscotti"...but for the fact that they are baked after slicing, but rather sugar cookie slices.
Good stuff....but not biscotti di prato.

Teresa, Lou also sent me some of his biscotti, this is nothing like his either.

LindaC, I was sure you were going to say that, I must be psycho....um....I mean psychic.

I never said they were "biscotti di prato", they are much more like "biscotti de regina", minus the sesame seeds (which were an option that I didn't include, although Elery would love them)

So, you go dunk your rock hard biscotti di prato, (which would give a reason to use quite a lot of wine to soften those rock hard pieces of concrete I manage to produce but I can't think of much else to recommend them) and I'll dunk my crunchy and less hard biscotti de regina, but they are both biscotti.

That's interesting Annie - description sounds like Lou's biscotti but not the same. You said it's a KA recipe? I need to pass that info along to my niece. She has not found a recipe she likes yet. This could be the one!

There are many types/ways to make biscotti. The best one is the one that works for you!

Your Biscotti look beautiful. I like Biscotti any way I can get it. By the way, my old computer had Vista also, and it gave up the ghost a month ago. I lost a lot. I'm going to take the hard drive to a shop and see if they can pull anything off of it. I had all my genealogy for both my DH's family and mine on it and hadn't backed it up recently so I did lose some of it. What really hurt was all the recipes I'd collected from Gardenweb. I guess we live and learn. I am currently using DH's older computer with Windows. I hate the computer!!!

From Wiki: "'Biscotti' is the plural form of biscotto. The word originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-cooked/baked."

So... If I oven-bake some chicken, freeze the leftovers and reheat in the oven I suppose it could be called biscotti? LOL. It seems that any time a recipe takes a significant departure from tradition, someone's going to call its authenticity into question. I can see the point.

The intro to the recipe says, "unlike classic Italian biscotti, which are quite hard, these are light and crunchy." Frankly that sounds good to me, whatever you want to call it. Though I haven't had tried it in years (hmm, is 7 years up?) I've never had much use for "real" biscotti. Annie, yours look great! Enjoy them, and enjoy your new computer.

Dcarch, I didn't even think of that, I was thinking Christmas cookies, LOL.

As I mentioned, I never said one darned thing about the cookies "traditional" or "authentic" anything. I did make sure to cite the source, King Arthur Flour, who called their recipe "biscotti". It works for me.

Actually, if you go even further back into the ages, biscotto actually is Italian for biscuit, which is a term used for cookies. As I've mentioned, Elery spent his teen years working for an Italian immigrant family who opened a grocery store. They referred to ALL cookies as biscotti.

I watched a PBS show with Mary Ann Esposito at Elery's several months ago and she made "Biscotti de Regina" and also mentioned that in Italy nearly all cookies are simply referred to as biscotti, even though the term "cotto" denotes "twice baked" and thus biscotto means "twice baked". Biscotti de Regina loosely translates into "Queen's Biscuit".

Frankly, this is a hybrid of the two, as it only contains 6 tablespoons of butter instead of a cup or so, it has the traditional almond flavoring and isn't very sweet.

It is only here in North America that biscotti is a generic term referring to one particular kind of cookie, and as LindaC inadvertently pointed out, different parts of Italy tend to do things "in the style of" or "in the way of". And so it is with biscotti.

So, eat it or don't. Take it or leave it. Not that there will be many left when I'm done having them for breakfast dunked in my coffee for several mornings!

It kind of makes me sorry I bothered to post anything about them, though. Or maybe I'm just sorry that I bother to post here at all any more.

It's been a frustrating day. When I sign off I probably won't get my internet connection back for a day and a half, maybe by then I'll be in a better frame of mind. If it wasn't past 11 pm already I'd make a pot of coffee and have a cookie!

I agree with you on the biscotti. We have a great little Italian cafe across the street from us at work called "Biscotti's Cafe." I love everything BUT their biscotti because its just too hard. I know, your suppose to dunk the biscotti in your coffee to soften it up a little, but I'm not a dunker - not even when I was a kid with chocolate cookies and milk. I don't like the crumbs in my beverages.

Anyway, I do like the "American" biscotti (the ones I make). Yours look perfect to me Annie! Enjoy!

Annie - I've had biscotti in Italy as well as the US, both commercially made in bakeries and restaurants, and home made. They are one of my least favorite treats because they can break a tooth, they are so dense. I don't like soggy so I don't dip them. The only ones I find palatable are Nonni's which Costco sells.

I'll look for the KA recipe and give them a try.

OT - I've only been on this forum a few months but have noticed some posters who seem to enjoy putting other people down. I find it sad. I just ignore them just as I would in person.

Thanks for the recipe review. I too do not indulge in biscotti that are so hard you are in danger of cracking teeth and I don't dunk. I don't like crumby tea!

Can't for the life of me think how I missed finding this since I have so many KA recipes already. Probably because I had given up on finding one that was not rock-hard. Your biscotti look great and bet they taste that way too.

Hope all goes well with the new computer. I was lucky enough to go from xp to Win7 and skip Vista. Wishing you better luck with 8!

I will try that recipe, too. My very crunchy almond biscotti (ala La Tempesta) has many fans but a more tender Nonni's-like biscotti would be well received by others. I'll probably skip the coarse sugar and add some almonds since that is the favorite nut around here. I like to think I'm the favorite nut but I think almonds win. ;)

Annie, I'm glad you found a recipe that works for you and they are pretty to boot. While I love Italian Biscotti, it scares me for the reasons mentioned above plus to eat it I have to make hot chocolate for dunking since I don't drink coffee.

I had a real treat while in Italy; there is a biscotti bakery in Rome (Innocenti Biscottificio Artigiano if my notes are correct). Since it was near our hotel, I couldn't pass by without taking advantage of this treasure daily. I would like to think that they are like what my grandma use to make; I didn't like them as a kid so I can't compare.

Getting a new PC is a good experience and a bad experience for me; I hope you enjoy yours.

I am often tempted, when making biscotti, to not do the second bake. I always snack on a slice or two when slicing the logs up just before putting them in for the second bake and often think I like the once baked consistency more than the twice baked.

Annie, I'd like a piece of your biscotti asap! I love the large grained sugar! Also, the older I get, the fact is I need to be more careful biting into super crunchy foods. One chipped tooth is quite enough and I'm not a dunker either!

In 2010, DH and I went to Tuscany and did some cooking classes at a resort hotel. We made a biscotti-shaped cookie, which was only baked once, but it was called Tozzetti. It took me several tries to make an acceptable version once I got home because our flour is different, and our humidity is non-existent compared to that in Italy. It consists of eggs, flour, sugar, baking powder, and almonds. I think I'll have to make some for the holidays....

As you and others pointed out, biscotti really just means cookie. My Nonna used the same dough for her pizzelles, shaped cookies with glaze and biscotti. Hers were very much like yours in texture.

The Italian Pastry shop near my grandparents house had huge mounds of biscotti on top of the cases. They sold them twice baked but also sold them once baked. It was very common to have them either way. That was over 55 years ago. Brings back great memories. So, Pudge, there is no reason on earth why you have to bake them the second time. Make them how you like them. Smiles.

Thanks for the recipe. I also don't like biscotti, at least the ones I've bought, but these might work. My coworker and I enjoy a cup of coffee in the afternoon, which we punch up with hot chocolate mix and these might be just the thing to go with it. I can keep a box of them at my desk.

A friend of mine makes biscotti for people. She just finished making 18 dozen. One is an Orange Toscani, which is fine- textured, and the other is an Almond Orange, which is more rustic. Neither of these is as hard as some biscotti, and people order from her for that reason.

Annie, please, please, please don't leave us. I've enjoyed all your posts since I first joined and have used a lot of your recipes or ones you tried and posted. There are people on here who have caused problems for all of us and have caused us to lose other posters we really liked and enjoyed having on board. Posters that contributed great recipes and support for all. Some people don't take into consideration that we are all different and that's one of the things that make Gardenweb and the cooking forum so wonderful. There isn't one person on here that is perfect or knows it all. Only the Creator is perfect. Don't let any poster chase you away.

I've often wondered about the hype over "biscotti"... the ones I've tried have been rock hard (I'm NOT a dunker), and worse, the almond extract in them has been overpowering. I can tell just from your photos that the texture of these biscotti might be something I'd actually like! I'll make a test batch and have my mother try them. :O)

FWIW, I'm another infrequent poster and huge fan who LOVES to see you posting on this forum!

Annie - do try to ignore the know-it-all posters as they are everywhere in life. Apparently it makes them feel more secure if they can put someone down. I am not a pro cooker, but enjoy cooking and find it therapeutic and have learned not to take it too seriously. Life is short, so enjoy your biscotti while I try to find your recipe.

I like our American coffee shop cookie so-called Biscotti for dunking, but the better, less tooth-shattering, cookie I prefer is the Jewish Mandelbrot, or same softer cookie called Italian Cantucci. Twice-baked, I like mine with lots of almonds, anise seeds, and anisette liquor (butter is part of these cookies). The cookie improves with age - some I have from two years ago, as a test, is quite more licorice-y than this year's batches and is no way spoiled as other cookies might be after a time, let alone two years, and it does not have to be dunked. It is not inexpensive, unless you grow your own almonds and have an anise patch.

All this talk about rock-hard biscotti has made me want to try some and see what all the fuss is about. Crazy, huh? I don't think I've ever had any that were so hard I feared for the safety of my teeth.

I don't make biscotti but rather Greek paximadia. Similar idea -- a twice baked cookie. My family's recipe is very rich: two cubes of butter, 1 cup sugar, & 3 eggs to 5-1/2 cups of flour. I like them very toasty, so they end up hard but not tooth shattering. Maybe the butter keeps them on the short side.

Anyhow, my curiosity is piqued. Now I want to try a rock-hard biscotti just for the heck of it.

shambo, a coffee shop biscotti isn't going to do it, I actually like those, although I don't try to eat without dunking.

Bake a batch of your own and bake them the second time until they are not chewy. Then you'll see what I mean. They aren't crunchy, they are hard, although I'm not sure I actually ever feared for my teeth. My mother can't eat them, though, she DOES fear for her teeth, as she is 77 and has already lost a couple of teeth due to osteoporosis and the degeneration of her jaw bone.

Of course, if there are dentists in the family you might lobby loudly for the rock hard stuff, LOL.

Actually, the original hard biscotti was made because, as Nancedar said, it kept unspoiled for long periods of time, useful for things like long ocean voyages, kind of an almond or anise flavored hardtack. It was only dunked in coffee or wine so that it would be palatable at all.

Mine's gone, anyway. Elery doesn't eat cookies and he liked them a lot, not very sweet and crunchy but not hard. Now I'm working on molasses cookies and chocolate chip cookies for the freezer, getting a jump on the Christmas baking.

Now if I can just get AT&T to help with my extremely unreliable and intermittent internet connection.....

I love Shambo's Greek version of biscotti - gave them to lots of people for gifts last year.

My mom makes a biscotti that calls for oil in the recipe. Her's have a different texture than the biscotti I have made - rather more of a "short" texture like a pastry crust. They are tasty and not rock hard.

I'm beginning to think that many more cuisines have twice baked cookies than I may have thought before?

Annie, I went searching for what an "authentic" biscotti recipe would be. The best I could surmise is that traditional biscotti don't have any butter. The liquid & fat come from eggs alone. So I can see how they'd bake up extremely hard. Maybe this is a quest I should forget.

However, I think I'd like the KAF recipe flavored with anise. I'm not much for dried fruit or nuts, so a plain, toasty, anise-flavored biscotti sounds good to me. The paximadia I make are plain with just a touch of orange & vanilla. Not too sweet either, which is probably why I like them so much.

I'd love some of your molasses cookies though, Annie. They're my favorite non-Greek cookie. I'm not a cookie maker at all. Something about all the plopping of individual blobs of dough on several baking sheets -- it just seems like too much work to me.

Teresa, a coffee shop biscotti won't work if she really wants one of the rock hard cement-like biscotti that I make. I can eat the ones at the coffee shops, even the "authentic" shops in Chicago or Detroit. I can't eat the ones I make though, not even when dunked.

Shambo, you and Ashley would get along. She thinks it's too much trouble to bake cookies at all, she just eats the dough!

I like the violently hard ones quite a lot. It's like a snack and a dare all in one. I don't even dunk 'em- I'm hard core like that. The key is to gnaw at different angles until you hit a weak spot :-)

Stuartwanda, "Zweiback" means "twice-baked" just as "biscotti" and "biscuit" do.
So it's the same process, bake the dough as a loaf, then slice it and bake it again to end up with something like sweet, completely dry toast. But biscotti taste a lot better than baby zweiback.

According to my mother I teethed on aniseed biscotti, which accounts for my fondness for them. Annie's look similar in texture to the Italian imported ones I buy, which are more firm than rock hard, with firm edges and crumbly slightly soft centres.

"The key is to gnaw at different angles until you hit a weak spot" - yes! That's how I eat these, I nibble all round like a bird. It's not really eating, it's more like erosion. You expend more calories trying to eat the hockey puck than you get from it.

Annie - maybe you should bake a batch of the rock hard biscotti you've been talking about. Mail it to oretom for Christmas/Hanukka/whatever. I always say there is nothing like a good workout to lift the spirits(or the mood in this case).

"Shambo, you and Ashley would get along. She thinks it's too much trouble to bake cookies at all, she just eats the dough!"

Annie, I have fond memories of snitching the dough from my grandmother's kourabiedes (Greek powdered sugar cookies) and her koulouria (Greek sesame seed twists). I think it was because both doughs were heavy with real butter. That was before I knew about the dangers of raw egg and also when margarine was touted as the healthy choice, so that's what my mom cooked with. The only time I ever got to taste real butter was at Christmas when those cookies were made. The raw dough was almost as much of a treat as the baked cookies. So, yes, Ashley & I would probably have fun just munching on raw dough together.

Just catching up with this thread. Annie, hoping you have decided to stick around as I need my occasional fix of the Monkey Princess, Bud and the rest of your whole fam damily. I still laugh at the redneck wedding.

I don't like biscotti with anise -- or anything with anise. My test for biscotti is breaking them in half. If I can't, then I don't eat them.

dedtired, I'm still here, I was just in a snit, being totally frustrated with my computer, my inconsistent and expensive internet connection and life in general.

I still say it's biscotti, though, and it's the first biscotti that I've ever made that you could break in half. Mine could be used for driveway pavers. And I dunk, it doesn't help. My homemade biscotti sucks, always. Until this one.

I do like anise, but I've got to figure out how to make this one gingerbread flavored. Yes, I know, it's REALLY not traditional, LOL, but I'm thinking little flecks of crystallized ginger and molasses or dark brown sugar...

I am sorry I caused such a row, though, I usually shrug such stuff off. It's only cooking, after all, and LindaC and I have duked it out before with no permanent damage to either participant, LOL.

Well, now, dcarch, why in the world should I bake biscotti, bake it again, then steam it to undo the baking, LOL, that would just be an extra step.

Here is the King Arthur recipe. They do give options for flavoring, I'm thinking orange flavoring and a dunk in dark chocolate would be nice and of course I'll have to try that gingersnap thing, although they do not give that as an option. I did not spray them with water and they still sliced just fine. You know how those days goes, I couldn't even find a spray bottle for water!

1) Preheat the oven to 350�F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) one large (about 18" x 13") baking sheet.

2) In a medium-sized bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, almond extract (if you're using it), and baking powder until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Beat in the eggs; the batter may look slightly curdled. At low speed of your mixer, add the flour, stirring until smooth; the dough will be sticky.

4) Plop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Divide it in half, and shape it into two 9 1/2" x 2" logs, about 3/4" tall. Straighten the logs, and smooth their tops and sides; a wet spatula or wet bowl scraper works well here. Sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar, if desired, pressing it in gently.

5) Bake the dough for 25 minutes. Remove it from the oven.

6) Using a spray bottle filled with room-temperature water, lightly but thoroughly spritz the logs, making sure to cover the sides as well as the top. Softening the crust just this little bit will make slicing the biscotti much easier. Reduce the oven temperature to 325�F.

Wait 5 minutes, then use a sharp chef's knife or serrated knife to cut the log crosswise into 1/2" to 3/4" slices. Or cut the biscotti on the diagonal, for fewer, longer biscotti. As you're slicing, be sure to cut straight up and down, perpendicular to the pan; if you cut unevenly, biscotti may be thicker at the top than the bottom, and they'll topple over during their second bake.

8) Set the biscotti on edge on the prepared baking sheet. Return the biscotti to the oven, and bake them for 25 to 30 minutes, until they feel very dry and are beginning to turn golden. They'll still feel a tiny bit moist in the very center, if you break off a piece; but they'll continue to dry out as they cool.

9) Remove the biscotti from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool. Store airtight at room temperature; they'll stay good for weeks.

Yield: 30 to 40 biscotti, depending on size.

Tips from our bakers

Variations: Add up to 2 cups nuts, dried fruit (dried, not fresh), or chips to the dough, along with the flour. Adjust the spice to suit the add-in, if desired; e.g., add 1 teaspoon cinnamon with 1 cup chopped dried apple and 1 cup diced pecans. Or substitute hazelnut, butter-rum, or your favorite flavor for the vanilla. A classic Italian anise biscotti is made with 1/2 teaspoon anise extract (or 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon anise oil, to taste), and 1 tablespoon fennel seeds.

I am getting better with the computer, I actually finally figured out how to open two browser windows at the same time, copy and paste from the King Arthur website, and hopefully it'll end up here without strange symbols.

I'm switching to a cable internet service next Tuesday, it should cut my bill in half and maybe give me internet access all the time, instead of getting a "not available" message about once every five minutes. If I get that message in the middle of a post, the whole post is gone, I have to close the browser window and start all over again. It's frustrating as heck. Grrr.